• Member Since 29th Nov, 2011
  • offline last seen Tuesday

LysanderasD


For them, a dream. Like thousands of other dreams. For you, a story. Like thousands of other stories.

T
Source

As ponykind extends its reach to other stars, it is alarmed to find that the geocentric nature of its home star system is unique... until it isn't. Pony-settled worlds gradually slow to a stop, and the burden of moving stars and satellites is thrust into the hooves of newly-born alicorns. Prepared to face one new frontier, ponykind suddenly finds itself on the bleeding edge of a totally different one as fundamental, ancient magics warp solar systems to fit its preconceptions.

Elsewhere, for a different people orbiting distant stars, ponykind's unlikely effect on system after system has not gone unobserved. Humanity stares, agape, as physics falls apart before its eyes.

Sooner or later, inevitably, their paths of expansion will cross...


Part I: Curvature: The Weight of Worlds - Complete. An earth pony astrophysicist on Equestria's first extrasolar colony is forced to confront both the perilous nature of her existence in an unstable star system, as well as family she has wrongfully estranged. In order for the colony to survive, Curvature must escape the pull of her own crushing guilt.

Part II: Gregory of Raven's Landing: The Reach of Magic - In Progress. A young griffon ambassador to Equus must represent his colony at a conference of settled worlds. Little does he know much the shape of sentient-controlled space has changed in the last century--and what kind of attention that change has attracted.

Part III: Marie Bisset: The Shape of Space - Planning

Part IV: Hayden Davis: The Breadth of Change - Planning.


Rated T for language. The Human tag refers to the presence of human characters in the story; the ponies themselves are still ponies.

The Twilight and Luna tags are for later chapters; while they have a pretty important part to play in the overall narrative, they are not its main characters.

The prologue and first two chapters were proofread, with my endless and insufficient thanks, by Shortmane and others from the FiMFiction Discord. Seeking an editor.

Cover art by Stellardust, used without permission. If the image offends, I will gladly remove it.

Chapters (6)
Comments ( 26 )

...Interesting concept. I'll look forward to more.

not bad so far
hope to see just where you take this

Glad I could help with beta'ing this, otherwise I might have missed it entirely!
This is not only a cool concept, but I love how you present the worldbuilding here, and Curvature is a nice protagonist to follow along through this futuristic world.

I don't really know what all is going on, but I'm eager to find out! :rainbowlaugh:

9831527
As long as the ponies also do.

stargazer's gonna go nightmare, isn't he

These silly ponies shouldn’t had missed up the balance that was already in place in this Solar system. I can definitely understand why these problems are happening but are they sure that maybe the solar system might just be wanting to get back to it’s original placement?

Do wish they did add male Alicorns to the show. Like it’s one of the most miss opportunities they never added...

10872362
You raise an excellent point. Alas, though I am willing to speculate about pony language, I’m not nearly smart enough to try and disentangle the theoretical magical physics ponies run on.

I’m confuse on this chapter… is it a computer log explaining their tech or humans figured out how to hack their files and translate it?

10874869

[Work-in-progress excerpt, translated from data logs shared with us by Princess Sparkle; check footnotes for additional information. - H. Davis]

(emphasis added)

I tried to make it clear without leaving the conceit of the “device,” but if there is a possibility of misinterpretation, I will see what I can do to make it more clear.

10875049
Ah ok so does this take place long after the story just to explain the tech the ponies used?

10875703

Each main arc of the story will move forward in time. The supplements take place in the “present” (i.e., the time we will end up in by the end), around the same time the final arc is slated to occur.

At the top of each chapter you find a date (for instance, here, 475 AL / 2486 CE) which will help orient you chronologically, e.g., Curvature’s story took place approximately 255 years before this (and, because I haven’t found a way to insert it organically into the story yet, “AL” is shorthand for “After Luna [Returns]”).

Because I don’t want to spend too much time in the main narratives explaining how technology works, it seemed prudent to include supplementary documents allowing me to do this elsewhere (while potentially dropping other bits and pieces of worldbuilding and setup for the final arc along the way).

I havent read yet so...so feel free to ignore this. But will there be a conflict that has consquences? I suppose I am rather burned by narratives that follow the logic of friendship? Wins everything? Because I am really excited by the potential conflict with ponys, if not in actual conflict? Other means of drama? I will leave a like either way.

This throughly creative even if it may not be for. Either way. Cheers! :eeyup:

Ps. When tease such a conflict that just sounds so fun?

10897963

Thank you for the like and for your upfront honesty, and I feel I should respond in kind.

Without going into too much detail, I think the story as planned may not be what you’re looking for. I’m writing from the opposite perspective, see--I’m tired of stories where ponykind and humanity end up in incompatible turmoil with one another (this seems especially true in stories that push ponies toward science fiction or science fantasy). This is an anthology centered broadly around the idea of overcoming one’s own flaws in the name of broader cooperation.

If you’re asking whether there will be war, the answer is a definitive no. But humankind and ponykind do have vastly different philosophies, so if you’re asking whether there will be ideological conflict when they encounter each other--that’s almost a given (though, to be fair, we have not yet encountered humanity in this story). There will definitely be some strife--but by the end, ponykind and humanity will be, if not friends, at least respectful toward one another (cf. Supplement A). If this is what you mean by “the logic of friendship,” then this may not be the sort of story you’re after.

The focus of the stories in this anthology is intended, for the most part, to be personal rather than political, though some stories--like Gregory’s--will lean more toward the latter than the former. Conflicts on a grand scale, society-wide, are beyond the intended scope of this work.

10897984
Thanks the response. I figure its better to be honest and give props to creativity. Even its not my cup of tea. I ironicallu have read very few pony vs human storys. In turn I also have looked for a story that goes deeper then just as you say "logic of friendship" that and consquencrs. Even simple accident that befall characters. But thats why I write...:twilightsmile:

So far it's quite an interesting concept. Also pony "hardish" sci-fi is always a win : )

10903313
As hard as it can be, given that magic is an established thing in the setting. I’m no scientist and I don’t intend to hold myself to 100% realistic standards, but I want it to feel plausible, especially as far as the ponies are concerned.

I’m glad you’re enjoying it; I’m trying to get back into a more regular writing schedule, so hopefully will get this updated in the relatively near future.

10903321
I totally didn't mean it like something offensive, it actually feels "old-school sci-fi hard" but I'm not sure about magic still. Could be explained to my satisfaction later for all I know : )

10903341
Oops--didn’t mean to imply like I took offense! Sorry, no; I was trying to agree with you and it got lost in the message.

Glad you are enjoying, and will do my best to make the setting make as much sense as I can.

10897984

Still, don't humans have a right to be upset about somepony messing with their Solar System?

10906368
This is certainly a possibility that I intend to discuss, don’t worry.

That bait and switch! I thought Gregory was human! :twilightblush:

This story has a good concept, but spending 5 pages on the prologue and then abandoning the story really irritated me, I didn't even get a chance to read the main story.

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